They ran so far!
19 amazing People & Planet supporters ran London's half marathon on 12 October. It was a fantastic achievement for each of them, and they raised over £6,500 for P&P.
Race medal, well deserved by each and every runner
Team P&P proudly display their medals after the race
Climate campaigner Nick Chan ran all the way in under 2 hours dressed as a coal fired power station!
Running partners Kate Hand and Tom Chance deserve their medals
On a beautiful sunny October Sunday nearly 7,500 people ran London’s Royal Parks Half Marathon. Our 19 runners were amongst them.
Louise was shouting them on all the way and writes:
We all met up in the morning when it was still a bit misty and chilly. Everyone ate lots of bananas. Nick sellotaped the finishing touches to his coal fired power station costume. Runners safety-pinned People & Planet logos to their T-shirts. Everyone claimed they were desperately unfit and would take hours to stagger round the course. Friends and family hovered around giving words of encouragement. P&Pers decided it was only appropriate we boycott the warm up led by the British Army, so they did a few stretches and talked about airport expansion.
The runners moved into the start lanes and the atmosphere was so exciting. Nick’s costume got photographed lots. The gun went off and the race started. Louise and Emma from the P&P office dashed about trying to catch the runners going past so we could shout words of encouragement and brandish our P&P banner. It was amazing seeing everyone doing this huge challenge. Everyone was quicker than we expected and many crossed the finish line while I was looking for them at the 9 mile mark! By then it was a hot sunny day and the atmosphere in Hyde Park was great.
Everyone agreed that the last couple of miles were really hard (especially the punishing slight gradient around the 10 mile mark). But once they could see the illusive finish line, their spirits returned. All the runners seemed so pleased with their times, amazing themselves with what they’d just done. A whole plantation’s worth of bananas were eaten at the finish line and runners were awarded their lovely wooden medals.
Ex-P&P Intern Graham Craig was the speediest of the P&P runners, finishing in an amazing 1hr 42 minutes and coming 688th out of 7431 runners. The office’s Ellie Smith was hot on his tail finishing in a fantastic 1hr 43 mins. Heroic Nick Chan (on his 4th marathon/half marathon for P&P this year) ran all the way dressed as a coal fired power station. Yes indeed he ran 13.1 miles inside a card board box. He couldn’t move his arms and had to hold up this cooling tour for the last few miles! But he made it in under 2 hours. What a guy! The star of the show had to be Sarah Wilson who took on a huge challenge. She’d never run anything like this far before and was thrilled to have completed the race. When we saw her at the 6 mile mark she screamed with joy ‘I’ve just run 6 miles!!!’.
View the full photo gallery
They did all this to raise much needed funds for People & Planet’s work campaigning on human rights, world poverty and the environment. They’ve worked really hard at their fundraising and are set to raise a whopping £6,750. Kate and Lizzie have each raised over £600 - wow!
Runner Lucie Kinchin from Oxford People & Planet group writes:
I formed part of the crack team of People and Planeters (plus one ‘Stop Kingsnorth’ coal-fired power station) who took to the streets of London to puff and pant our ways to the 13.1 mile mark! Although it sounds like a really long way (and it is), I’d never had such a tremendous sense of elation as the one I achieved as I reached the finish line. It was a fantastic challenge for me, as I’ve never really been into running before, but it was absolutely worthwhile. It’s a real pleasure to be raising money for a group which campaigns on pretty much THE important issues of today: climate change, world poverty, human rights. What could be better than that? AND we all got free bananas at the end.
Lucie finished the race in a speedy 1hr 48mins and has already raised £440. Sponsor her
It’s not too late to sponsor the runners: Kate Hand, Tom Chance, Philip MacDonald, Luke Robinson, Bryony-Beth Cruickshank, Rachel Thorp, Peter Bray, Nick Chan, Lizzie Jeans, Lucie Kinchin, Eleanor Smith, Frances Sleap, William Routh, Sarah Wilson, Graham Craig, Dan Harris, Luke Oliver, Lewis Basset, Emma Hughes.
Thank You!
Thanks for running for People & Planet. You guys were amazing and we really appreciate all your hard work.
If you’d like to take on a challenge for P&P contact Louise on 01865 245678 or email me. I can help you find an event near you.
